Rude Welcome
by Ikkadar
Summary: Bower, Nadia and the rest of the Elysium's survivors find out how hospitable Tanis really is...


Nadia winced in pain behind the thick, wet stripes of her dark brown hair. She inched closer to find Bower in the rugged cave's blue gloom. Her pale face was doused in sweat-soaked dust and layers of dried, dark blood. To whom the blood belonged specifically, she'd long since forgotten. The memories from Elysium had blurred into a hazy nightmare. However, the nasty knife-wound in her right side she'd sustained while trapped in a madman's lair somewhere in one of the ship's innumerable hiding places was real enough. It forced her into heavy breathing, but she tried her best to ignore it. She would've been damnably sluggish if not for the adrenaline racing through her. At least the blood in the wound had caked up and dried since the ambush at the landing.  
>She steeled her tormented mind as she sat back down in her place beside Bower's hunched figure. She felt pity and remorse for him. Bower had stopped to pick her up after she'd tripped and fallen in the first few minutes of the ambush. He'd run for several long minutes carrying her while she fought against losing consciousness, avoiding danger after danger until he found a shielding outcropping at the beach's far end.<br>Now the sounds of human death, panic and raw fear combined with those of vicious slaughter emanated from somewhere down that black void at the far side of the cave. There had been a long, rugged passage hidden behind that outcropping of sand and cliff on the beach. A subterranean tunnel that they had fled into in sheer panic. She'd awoken just before they entered. As far as she could remember it had been quite straight at the beginning before splitting up into maybe three of four other passages. They'd kept running straight, following the largest one. Little less than twenty terrifying minutes since. People had been snatched into the air and bulldozed into puddles only steps behind them. The carnivorous enemy surely knew their hiding place.  
>Nadia kept a weary eye at the deep darkness of the cave exit. She was reassured of the truth of her vivid recollections. The passage led straight to the surface. The sound wasn't forced to bend any corners. She heard every sickening scream, every collapse, every hack, stab and tear. Every sinister alien sound.<br>The disaster had battered her mind into the bliss of numb shock moments earlier. She'd been close to letting go. Now it but made her legs feel weak. She'd moved to vomit twice, foul grasshopper remains hung unchecked from her bottom lip. Only now she'd lost enough numbness to notice. She spat and wiped it off.  
>'It's not over yet,' she whispered, 'they're just outside.'<br>Bower was silent. She put a hand on his shoulder. 'Bower?'  
>He raised his scruffy, close-cut, blond-haired head from his lap, keeping his eyes tightly closed. Bower felt the cold receding from his flesh as Nadia's arm slipped underneath his and embraced him.<br>'This is how it ends.' His voice was barely a whisper. Smooth, apathetic and cold. It sought its way into Nadia's ears, into her mind painting violent pictures of their demise. She saw Bower clench his jaw in the faint, cold blue illumination from the data pad in his lap. He fought against opening his eyes. The indiscriminate screaming continued outside the cave. The true inhabitants of Tanis thundered their guttural growls and shrill ululations as they tore into pieces the last thousand-two-hundred surviving members of the human race. Family by family, limb by limb, gene by gene, consumed, destroyed, eradicated. A vast disarray of hopeless survivors awakening from hundreds of years of hypersleep, quickly turning into a melting pot of blood and bones. A carnal feast for vicious alien predators.  
>Nadia felt sudden tremors building. Anticipating another collision above the surface she kicked her cloth-wrapped feet into the ground and braced herself and Bower both against the cave wall. The ground shook violently sending cascades of Tanis's foreign earth and rock flying from the walls and the ceiling as the creatures somewhere above them fought for fresh meat. Somewhere nearby a passage collapsed with a thunderous roar.<br>'Not long now.' Nadia managed, glancing up. 'They're getting closer.'  
>Her scarred left arm clenched Bower by the waist, her palm splayed out across his heaving abdomen. Her piercing, clear blue eyes gazed calm, into his dull blue.<br>'You have your knife. Don't you?' Bower began, resting his forehead in his left palm. The light from underneath gave his face a sinister outline.  
>'Never.'<br>He finally opened his eyes and looked at her.  
>'You'd rather be eaten alive?'<br>Nadia raised an eyebrow but remained silent. Her lip quivered. She kept her eyes on his face.  
>'Well, you'll be tasty I suppose.' Bower sighed, setting the pad to the side. 'Give me the knife.'<br>'No!'  
>Nadia shot him a look of disbelief. She replaced her arm over his shoulder, then chewed her lip for a moment. She leaned in and kissed his cheek. At first lightly, then again, longer, pushing her lips in. She remained close afterwards, breathing on his neck. They held eye-contact even as the frantic shrieks of a dying human female echoed into their place of uncertain refuge.<br>'We die when we die.' Nadia whispered, fighting the shivers down her spine.  
>Bower remained motionless. He would've shown surprise at that kiss, but his ass hurt. Hell, his entire body was in pain. After the ordeal on Elysium and that damn beach-run he was surprised he hadn't collapsed dead yet. <em>Fuck that Lieutenant Payton. Fuck these monsters.<em> He blinked, realising Nadia was still watching him with those keen, deep blue eyes of hers.  
>'What was that for?' he murmured. 'A lucky kiss of death?'<br>'Stop talking shit and return it.' she raised her eyebrow suggestively. Bower let his gaze wander to her cracked lips.  
>Another thunderous collision somewhere above caused the two to stagger, nearly forcing them to collapse. Amidst whirling dust they both instinctively recovered, using each other to balance and push themselves back in place.<br>They embraced again as the ground shook, lips met lips in silence. One final embrace. As seconds passed in a whirlwind of terrifying anticipation and ignorance of the nightmares on the surface, the human screaming from outside became less frequent. It would be only seconds before a ferocious Tanisian native creature picked up their trail.  
>Nadia carefully felt for her hunting knife as she moved her lips in unison with Bower's. She could do it. Now, while he was occupied. It would only be merciful, considering what the fate of the other survivors was like. She would find his heart, make it quick. Then, if she was strong enough... herself. Before it was too late.<br>Bower suddenly hugged her close and she nearly sobbed as her fingers brushed the handle. He swayed her in his arms and she allowed him. She allowed him to make her forget her thoughts. Her own words resonated within her mind.  
><em> We die when we die.<em>  
>Bower rose and she followed on unsteady feet, answering his smile with her own. They danced in the dust. Taking simple steps, careful not to step on each other in the faint blue gloom. Bower extended his hand and Nadia slowly spun out, paused. They smiled below distraught eyes. Nadia spun back into his embrace and they kissed one final time. Another tunnel collapsed. The rattling calls of the creatures they knew would come grew louder as a hunting party ventured through the middle passage towards them. Above, the thundering sound of a new stampede of monsters come to scavenge the last blood from the human remains. Nadia looked at Bower, her blue eyes held more sadness than fear.<br>'They're coming. All of them.'  
>Sharp wheezes answered the rattles. Alien noises unlike any the two humans had ever heard resonated, first faintly, then growing in depth and tenacity, bouncing off the walls, followed by scraping steps on the passage's gravelly floor. Bower released Nadia and reached for the screen. He held it up so he could read and started navigating menus. He soon found what he was looking for and lightly pulled his finger upwards across the smooth surface. The illumination control. He raised the output to max and the light grew rich. A grim grin took shape on his face.<br>'What the hell are you doing?' Nadia whispered. She'd unsheathed her knife and looked ready to pounce whatever was gonna come through the passage.  
>Bower remained silent, walking up to her. He ignored his shaking arms.<br>'Do you hope to blind them or us?' she wheezed as she found herself bathing in light.  
>'I'm not gonna blind anyone.' Bower said. He stood still, looking into her glinting blue eyes.<br>'I'll miss you,' he whispered.  
>Bower suddenly pushed her back into the cave, then ran down the darkness of the passage. Towards the surface. Towards certain death.<br>_ 'Here you ugly-assholes! Right this way! Look! Strange bright light! Come on! I'm right here!' _Bower's screaming and shouting grew fainter by the seconds. He ran until his legs were on fire. A million pangs of regret tickled his mind but he kept running, ignoring the falling rock fragments slapping him in the face, cutting up his cheeks. He faced nothing but blackness and cold, stale air ahead. Erratic movements in the dark, wheezes and ferocious rattling answered him. Somewhere close, somewhere farther, a shrill cry erupted into a devastating growl, then hideous snickering. A sharp cry went out. A rising rumble. There was a terrible sound, as if from the depths of an ancient hell. An explosion from the core of the planet itself. Then the deafening rumble faded, leaving silence, save for the muted sound of running feet and the foreboding crumbling of the passage walls.  
>Nadia, left behind on her ass in the dusty darkness clenched her jaw, gripped her knife and rolled her eyes.<br>'Idiot!' she hissed. She crawled forward and leaped into a run, screaming as the cave collapsed behind her.

Light exploded into Nadia's eyes as she found herself staggering out the cave entrance having encountered neither friend nor foe. Thick dust battered her back and dissolved in whirling motions.  
>'Bower!' She shouted. Her voice was quickly lost in the dusty wind. She stumbled forward a few more steps trying desperately to see through her useless eyes as they adjusted. Solar glare pierced mercilessly. Her foot snagged and she fell over, collapsing over something odd-shaped. Nadia quickly felt for solid ground. She'd landed on something soft... and wet.<br>'Fuck!' she hissed, seeing enough through the veiling white glow to realize her hand was covered in fresh human blood. It seeped sickly down her naked wrist. A slick puddle surrounded her knees. She kneeled before a fresh kill.  
>Nadia quickly pulled away, blinking, sobbing as panic began to spread.<br>'Bower?'  
>She smeared the blood on her hands against her chest and nearly tripped again, trying to get clear. White spots clouded the center of her vision, fading only too slow. She breathed deeply, tried to calm herself and listened for any sign of the enemy. Then more blood seeping into her periphery. It got to her.<br>'Fuck!'  
>Nadia rubbed her eyes, collapsing again on her knees in front of the body. Then came clarity at last. She gasped in abhorrent relief. The body was naked and torn open at the chest. It wasn't Bower. She looked up from the gruesome remains of the female corpse and felt how the strength in her bones began to melt away. Nadia sagged over, forehead pushing into dead human flesh, sobbing. Around her and scattered up to a vast distance away lay ravaged bodies. Children, Women, Men. All having lost their lives within minutes of setting foot upon the place that was to have been their salvation. One thousand two hundred escape pods lay bobbing calmly in the ocean behind the rivers of blood. Nadia fell onto her back and held up her knife to the sun. She made her hands twist it slowly into a reverse. Watching with tranquil eyes, she lowered the glistening point down above her chest, hovering it over her heart. She closed those eyes. Memories of the horrors of Elysium blurred her senses. Images of her lab, fragments of conversations with colleagues, images of a vast vault, earth's entire biological library, submerged and gone forever. Silent tears rolled down to wet her earlobes. Wind came to caress her face and neck. She began to feel cold, strangely weightless. She lifted her arms, grit her teeth.<br>'Nadia, no!'  
>She startled. Her eyes fluttered open. Blood-stained hands shot into her field of view and tore the knife out of her grip. She was violently pulled away through the sand by her collar. Her heart beat like it was gonna burst, her breaths caught in her throat. She tried desperately to fight off the arm, coughing, choking.<br>Bower clenched a bloody fist around her flailing wrist. She coughed sand, began to protest and tried to get on her feet, but his frantic speed made her stumble and nearly pull them both down.  
>'Shh!' he hissed, 'shut up for fuck's sake. They aren't far away. Stop making noise.'<br>Nadia growled something inaudible and let him pull her a few meters more until they arrived at a small hillock overlooking a vast plain, rich with Tanis's foreign vegetation.  
>'You could've let me fucking run!' She hissed back as Bower finally let go her arm, leaving a giant bruise.<br>'I'm sorry. I was shit-scared,' Bower grunted, looking around frantically to make sure they were unseen. 'You're welcome,' he muttered.  
>Nadia scoffed, massaging her wrist. Her blue eyes glowed in the sunshine.<br>'Welcome for what? Nearly ripping my arm off? What were you thinking running like that? What happened?'  
>'I don't know. They started running away when they saw the light. Maybe they got scared or something. I just don't... I don't think it was something I did. I should've been dead by now.'<br>Nadia ceased her massaging and shot him a hurt look. Bower felt his words catch in his dry throat.  
>'Look, I'm sorry, I didn't want to see you die. I thought maybe you might have a chance if I...'<br>'The cave collapsed.' Nadia spat. 'Genius.' She spat another mouthful of sand, fixing him with a serious gaze. 'I can have my knife back now.'  
>Bower nodded and handed it to her, muttering something.<br>'What did you see exactly? Where are all the monsters?'  
>Bower grimaced, wiping blood from his sleeves.<br>'They took off together, three of them. I've never seen anything like it. They look nothing like the luminescent fish we saw earlier. Reminded me more of giant spider-rhinos with shiny armor plating and fluorescent, bulbous eyes. The last of them had just stopped feeding on that woman's corpse when I made it out. They seemed to ignore me. I stood in the darkness of the tunnel for about five seconds, watching them catch up to the others, I could feel their eyes on me. They spoke with each other using those rattling noises. When they'd gone I rushed to the body, but it was too fucking late. They'd torn her up.'  
>'What? Wait. Go back. Where did all the monsters go?' Nadia stared, shocked.<br>'I think they must've been answering some call. That explosion...' Bower sighed, 'I was trying to see where they were going when you came out and started making noise.'  
>Nadia only nodded, quickly absorbed in thought. Bower stopped to catch his breath, he felt ready to puke his guts out. He shot Nadia a relieved glance, but could find no more words. Abruptly, his legs gave out and he collapsed in the sand, eyes wide with surprise.<br>'Fuck. No. No. This isn't happening,' he groaned, grimacing as the pain began to paralyse his body. 'Not now, dammit.'  
>His heart felt ready to tear itself apart as new fear twisted his nerves. He began to pant, using all his power to move himself. All in vain.<br>'Take it easy Bower. We're ok for now, but if you don't shut up...' Nadia crawled over to him, sliding down beside his chest.  
>'This is what I get for having grasshoppers for lunch.' Bower chuckled, wincing. 'This is your fault.'<br>'Do you want to get eaten?'  
>'Does it matter now? We're screwed and I can't move an inch.'<br>'Try to sit up.' Nadia beckoned, feeling her heart-rate rise at the prospect of having to do what was necessary if Bower couldn't move. She kept a close look at their surroundings, lending Bower her hand as support.  
>Bower forced all his remaining strength into his abdominals, pushing off with one shaking arm, pulling on hers with the other.<br>'Ok, I'm up. Now what?' he grated.  
>While he looked like shit, Nadia was relieved to see Bower's eyes scanning the surroundings as keenly as hers.<br>'We have to get out of here. We're too much in the open,' she said.  
>'So where would you like to go? Starbucks? I've never had Tanisian coffee.' Bower groaned louder as he began to feel a tingle in his legs.<br>'Bower...' Nadia warned.  
>He slowly arched forward and began to massage his thighs, feeling some strength and warmth return. He purposely ignored Nadia's outraged expression.<br>'Hey, it's not that bad,' he murmured seriously. 'I'll be able to walk soon. We should head back to the beach, -Nadia?'  
>Bower grimaced, looking at Nadia's unmoving form. She'd turned his back to him and now sat like a statue at his side.<br>'Shhh, I saw something in the distance.' Her whispered words were tinged by panic.  
>'Shit!'<br>Bower tried rising, relieved he could, but in agony.  
>'I'm up. Let's get the hell out of here.'<br>Nadia slowly turned, keeping her eyes on the spot she'd seen movement for as long as she could.  
>'Allright. Here, I'll help.' She turned and supported Bower and they began to move away from the hillock near the subterranean tunnel towards the gore-strewn beach.<br>'What's your plan sugar?' Nadia panted, keeping her faithful knife ready in her free left hand while she kept Bower upright. She ignored the quivering in her arms and legs. Her energy was running dangerously low. Soon she would be as exhausted as Bower and they wouldn't have a chance. If they had one at all.  
>'Get us to an escape-pod. If we can find a discarded blast-door I might be able to re-attach it. We might be able to spend the night at sea, or possibly make our way on to Elysium's hull. We need some time to fucking think.'<br>'Sounds risky. What about the monsters? Elysium's mutants? The water creatures? How many predators are we dealing with? We don't know what the different species of this planet are capable of. We know nothing about what we're up against! Some could have thermal signature sensing abilities or be able to smell our blood like sharks for all we know.'  
>Bower nodded, struggling to keep his body pushing the limits as they maneuvred past a field of staggering scenes of human slaughter.<br>'Got any better ideas? I'm open to suggestions. Just don't mention a cave.'  
>Nadia grunted, whispering a curse.<br>'Don't slip in the blood,' she hissed.  
>Bower seemed to notice the bodies for the first time. His eyes widened and he almost collapsed. When Nadia's right arm gave out, he did.<br>The ocean's moderate waves crashed over their bodies and bathed them in blood. They found themselves crawling around in a nauseating mix of sea-water, mud, slick blood and puke.  
>Bower finally came to a stop and found his footing, digging the fingers of his right hand into the treacherous ground. He reached out with his left and pulled Nadia upright before the waves had a chance to knock her over again. They embraced and gazed past each other, weary for any hint of danger. She held her knife at the ready.<br>The giant sun was beginning to come down. It created an atmosphere of paradisal serenity. Weaving an impression of false comfort into their souls. A sinister lullaby of deceit. This giant world Tanis, the remarkable final hope for the universe's last sixty-thousand human beings, had turned into a living, breathing hell.  
>'Nadia,' Bower whispered, struggling to form the name as he felt his legs and abdomen fade into numb exhaustion.<br>'What?' She shivered and hugged him closer, pushing her lips into his neck.  
>'We're the only ones left.' He suddenly sobbed. 'The only ones.'<br>Nadia jolted, she looked up at him.  
>Bower's eye seemed to have lost every sign of life.<br>'The last humans in the universe,' he whispered.  
>Nadia felt a tight knot in her stomach. She forgot her fear for the monsters, for everything about this strange new place that had troubled her to the point of sickness. She let her eyes wander out to the vast endless blue, the irregular black shapes emerging from the undulating surface, standing tall above. Elysium. The wreckage of humanity's greatest achievement fallen beneath the sea like a forgotten gravestone. The waves pushed gently against her bosom and she felt an eternity of emotions and memories flood her. Whether they were machinations of her distraught mind or not she bothered not care. She turned back to Bower. He knelt still, staring ahead, his gaze lowered to meet hers, tears ran unchecked.<br>'I know.' she whispered in disbelief.  
>Nadia grasped Bower's head gently with both hands and pushed his face towards hers.<br>'Do you believe I love you?'  
>Eyes to eyes, they huddled together in tender isolation, bathing in the blood of their fallen kin.<p> 


End file.
